Adobe releases 64-bit Lightroom 3 with support for tethered shooting

Adobe on Tuesday announced the release of Photoshop Lightroom 3 for Mac and Windows, the latest version of its professional photography software, with new features such as support for DSLR video files and tethering shooting on selected cameras.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 has a completely redesigned performance architecture that Adobe said better handles growing image libraries and provides a superior raw processing engine with noise reduction and sharpening tools. The new 64-bit capable software also has new features to optimize workflows.

"There have been over 600,000 downloads of the Lightroom 3 public beta, which has supplied us with a huge amount of valuable feedback from a passionate community of professional and advanced amateur photographers," said Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for Digital Imaging at Adobe.

"The open dialog we have with our customers allows us to further improve Lightroom and provide the best tools they need to produce high-quality images. We’re happy to see that so many people are anxiously anticipating the final release, so they can start taking advantage of all the new features they had a hand in developing."

Available now for both Windows and Mac on the Adobe store, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 has a retail price of $299 for new users, and $99 to upgrade. Recommended system requirements are Mac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X 10.6 with Intel-based processor, Windows 7, Windows Vista, or XP with Service Pack 3.

Adobe said Lightroom 3 was rebuilt to be fast and responsive, and the new application provides a fluid experience for photographers. Images are said to load almost instantaneously, and importing of images has been redesigned to be more intuitive, with added previews and default selections that give users quick access to sort through and find images.

Lightroom 3 also allows users to import and manage DSLR video files, as well as take advantage of tethered shooting for select Nikon and Canon cameras. It also has new state-of-the-art photographic tools for features like Luminance and Color Noise Reduction, which are said to help produce a clearer picture from high ISO or underexposed images while still preserving details.

The latest version also adds the highly requested Automatic Lens Correction feature, which improves results by allowing users to apply profiles that correct for undesirable geometric distortions, chromatic aberrations and lens vignette effects that most lenses introduce to the image.

There's also a new straighten tool, allowing users to perfect vertical vertical and horizontal perspective, additional presets for applying more photographic adjustment styles, three new contemporary vignette styles, and a grain effect to add a more natural look with images.

Output options in Lightroom 3 have also been expanded, with new capabilities to publish collections on online sharing sites. Flickr users can sync accounts to Lightroom with one click, and integration with other websites can be added through third-party plugins.

Lightroom 3 also has customizable print layouts which provide more refined control over how photographers present final images, and new watermarking features with options to modify text, size, location and style. Users can also export polished slideshows as video files with the option to add audio and title screens.

Lightroom 3 went through a public beta testing before its official release. In March, Adobe revealed that the bet was downloaded more than 350,000 times.

The last major update to Lightroom, version 2, was released in July 2008 and was Adobe's first 64-bit Mac application. Last September, Adobe claimed that Lightroom had gained market share over its main competitor, Apple's proprietary Aperture program.

The last major update to Lightroom, version 2, was released in July 2008 and was Adobe's first 64-bit Mac application. Last September, Adobe claimed that Lightroom had gained market share over its main competitor, Apple's proprietary Aperture program.

I had no idea Lightroom was open source and I can just compile the code myself.

Just tried the "Reader" button in Safari 5 on this article. It doesn't work for this blog page, but on the article page... i kind of like it.

For those who haven't used it, it's right next to the "refresh" arrow in the address window. The word "reader" comes up. It takes about 3 or 4 seconds to load, then pulls up the article in a layer on top of the greyed out page. The article is in a serif book-like font with a large font size.

The thing is, it doesn't show any ads!

Which has me thinking that Apple would like to get people hooked on "reader" so that they can take iAds to computer browsers as well as their phones.

Just tried the "Reader" button in Safari 5 on this article. It doesn't work for this blog page, but on the article page... i kind of like it.

For those who haven't used it, it's right next to the "refresh" arrow in the address window. The word "reader" comes up. It takes about 3 or 4 seconds to load, then pulls up the article in a layer on top of the greyed out page. The article is in a serif book-like font with a large font size.

The thing is, it doesn't show any ads!

Which has me thinking that Apple would like to get people hooked on "reader" so that they can take iAds to computer browsers as well as their phones.

What do you think of it?

From Apple's Safari site:

Quote:

Safari Reader
Safari Reader removes annoying ads and other visual distractions from online articles. So you get the whole story and nothing but the story. It works like this: As you browse the web, Safari detects if you’re on a web page with an article. Click the Reader icon in the Smart Address Field, and the article appears instantly in one continuous, clutter-free view. You see every page of the article — whether two or twenty. Onscreen controls let you email, print, and zoom. Change the size of the text, and Safari remembers it the next time you view an article in Safari Reader.

Just tried the "Reader" button in Safari 5 on this article. It doesn't work for this blog page, but on the article page... i kind of like it.

For those who haven't used it, it's right next to the "refresh" arrow in the address window. The word "reader" comes up. It takes about 3 or 4 seconds to load, then pulls up the article in a layer on top of the greyed out page. The article is in a serif book-like font with a large font size.

The thing is, it doesn't show any ads!

Which has me thinking that Apple would like to get people hooked on "reader" so that they can take iAds to computer browsers as well as their phones.

What do you think of it?

Kind of cool, but kind of odd that it's not the full page and separate scroll bar. I'd like to see them tweak it more, seems half baked.

As much as I like Lightroom, with its excellent feature set, one big failure for me is the UI ( and how the workflow is laid out). It's just darn right distracting when working in the application.

While Aperture 3 is just more elegant to use and you are not restricted how you want to work. Aperture could have some real Lens Correction and better Noise Reduction tools built in. But serious photographers prefer to use professional plug-ins to do these things anyway.

I just hope Apple continue to improve their product on a more regular basis, as Aperture 2's history of updates was pretty abysmal.

However if Lightroom looked more like a Mac App I might try it again. Maybe Adob' should introduce a theme UI. Nonetheless I'm glad there's competition otherwise there mightn't of been Aperture 3 at all!

I don't think there's Tethering in Aperture, well that's something Apple should add in, to stay in the game. (oh and maybe a mini-raw editor for iPad with Camera tethering, now that would be cool!)

I don't think there's Tethering in Aperture, well that's something Apple should add in, to stay in the game. (oh and maybe a mini-raw editor for iPad with Camera tethering, now that would be cool!)

I have tethering working on my iPad and LR3. Works like a champ and will really be handy in the field.

Okay, you think I'm nuts right now so here's how I did it. I got the app called AirDisplay on my iPad. It extends the screen from my laptop. Then I tethered my 5D to my laptop through a 15 foot USB cable. I loaded LR3 and moved it to the iPad screen and done. I can see the pictures as they load onto the laptop on my iPad screen. So, as I'm taking shots I can just look at my Pad and see how they are coming out. The AirDisplay even lets me scroll through past shots with my model using my finger to select.

A little clunky because it would be WAY better to just plug into the iPad, BUT, it works!